Molding tips and tricks soon revealed at molding show in Vegas

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Excerpt: Composites One, along with the Closed Mold Alliance and over 15 industry partners, will host  comprehensive, ongoing demonstrations of closed-mold technology –on the show floor – during COMPOSITES 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Presentations will take place in a specially designed staging area …

Software assists designing wind turbines

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Excerpt: Software called Bladed provides wind turbine and component manufacturers, certification agencies, design consultants, and research organizations a design tool that has been extensively validated against measured data from a wide range of turbines. The developer says the software is the industry …

Company approved to install special offshore grout

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Excerpt: FoundOcean has been awarded ‘Licensed Applicator’ status by BASF for its cement-based Exagrout Masterflow 9500, which has been validated for use in the installation of offshore wind farms. "This ultra-high strength grout demonstrates pioneering properties and will be a welcome addition to the …

Accurate modeling for slender composite structures (Think blades)

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Excerpt: A provider of efficient high-fidelity modeling software for aerospace, energy composites, and other advanced materials has released VABS 3.6. The developer says the software is the tool of choice for efficient and accurate modeling of composite slender structures such as wind-turbine blades, he …

Carbon fiber tech center for wind and more

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Excerpt: Carbon-fiber manufacturer Zoltek Corp. has taken a step toward growing its carbon fiber prepreg capabilities by expanding into a new 135,000 ft2 facility near St. Louis, Mo. The new facility will house Zoltek’s prepreg manufacturing and new Technical Center. The company says it is making the mo …

Metals 101

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Excerpt: The most used metal in a wind turbine is steel in the tower and other components. But a few more recent material ideas warrant attention. Until recently, copper has been the predominant material in wire and cable used to grounding of electrical systems. But the cost of copper fluctuates substanti …

Materials 101

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Excerpt: As turbines become more complex, they call for more advanced materials. Furthermore, the financial crisis has altered the trajectory of wind-farm projects by tightening developers’ budgets with a need to control costs, an increasing priority even as the industry expands. Like other complex product …

Small diameter milling tool intended for high feed work

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Excerpt: A High Feed 2 line of small diameter high feed milling tools focuses on bringing high levels of productivity and reliability to modern CNC machines. High feed rates and small depths of cut let the cutters handle a variety of applications, including pocketing, ramping, helical interpolation, faci …

Polyurethane adhesive speeds wind blade assemblies

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Excerpt: Henkel has introduced a new high-performance polyurethane adhesive that prevents crack propagation on wind blades and delivers excellent long-term structural integrity on turbine assemblies. The first ever Germanischer Lloyd (GL)-approved polyurethane adhesive, Macroplast UK 1340 cures rapidly a …

Manufacturer’s website offers help with carbon fibers

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Excerpt: A carbon-fiber manufacturer has launched a new website at www.zoltek.com. The redesigned is to highlight many applications for carbon fiber, Zoltek Corp. products, and its service appropriate to each. For instance, the Applications section of the website includes details on Zoltek’s carbon fib …